Omarosa Manigault Newman

Omarosa Onee Newman ( Manigault; born February 5, 1974), known mononymously as Omarosa, is an American reality television show participant, writer, and former political aide.

She has worked in the White House offices of former presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump.

She became widely known as a contestant on the first season of NBC's reality television series The Apprentice.

In the 1990s, Newman worked in the office of Vice President Al Gore during the Clinton administration.

She later said the job had been "a very difficult environment, because they don't believe in training. They just kind of throw you in the fire."

After graduating from The Rayen School in Youngstown, she earned a bachelor's degree in communications with a concentration in radio in 1996 at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio.

She later moved to Washington, D.C., to attend Howard University, where she earned a master's degree and worked toward a doctorate in communications, but did not finish.

She temporarily served as a facilitator and presenter at Howard University.

Newman has also received biblical studies training at Payne Theological Seminary in Wilberforce, Ohio.

Newman first came to public attention in 2004 after becoming a participant on the first season of NBC's reality television series The Apprentice.

Stemming from her confrontational persona on The Apprentice (particularly in its boardroom segments), Newman soon became the "woman America loved to hate" and was named by E! as "reality TV's number one bad girl".

Newman has disagreed with the "villain" label, rather believing herself to be "a shrewd businesswoman," asserting that when a man behaves assertively, he is seen as strong, but when a woman does so, she is portrayed negatively.

Newman has also claimed the show's producers manipulated footage of her to make her look like the villain.

She was "fired" in week 9.

In January 2008, Newman participated in the first season of The Apprentice sequel show, Celebrity Apprentice; she became the only former Apprentice participant to be invited back to the series.

On Celebrity Apprentice, she quickly became embroiled in a personal feud with fellow contestant Piers Morgan.

She was eventually fired in the 10th episode, after serving as the project manager of the team that, according to Trump, suffered "the biggest slaughter in the history of The Apprentice" in a challenge to sell artwork against a team led by Morgan.

She raised $49,000 in total for her charity.

In June 2010, Newman and Trump collaborated to create a dating show called The Ultimate Merger, with 12 men competing for her affections.

The show aired on TV One.

In February 2013, Newman returned to television and The Apprentice, appearing on Trump's All-Star Celebrity Apprentice.

She quickly marshalled her team to an early victory on the show, winning a task involving the creation of a photo booth at Universal Orlando.

In a later episode, Lil Jon's team was brought back to the boardroom after they lost.

Piers Morgan remarked, "my argument against you has always been that you're not a celebrity... and you don't have star power," which led to a heated argument that resulted in Trump firing Newman.

On Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, when asked by Jimmy Fallon whether or not she felt the show set her up by having Piers Morgan act as one of the judges, Newman answered, "I felt like I was competing against Piers, as well as the other contestants."

Newman also noted that when she sees Morgan's show canceled in a year, it will be "the best revenge".

Newman became assistant to the President and director of communications for the Office of Public Liaison during the Trump administration in January 2017.

However, on December 13, 2017, White House Chief of Staff, John Kelly, fired Newman, citing "money and integrity issues", as well as "inappropriate use of company vehicles".

Gore's former office administrator, Mary Margaret Overbey, has said in 2017, that Newman "was the worst hire we ever made."

In her resume, Newman later described her job duties as a "senior scheduling and advance coordinator" in charge of Gore's schedule, though former Gore staffers told The New York Times that she was only in charge of responding to invitations.

She was later transferred to Clinton's Commerce Department via the White House personnel office.

Cheryl Shavers, who then served as the Commerce Department's Undersecretary for Technology Administration, said that Newman was "unqualified and disruptive," adding, "I had her removed."

Afterwards, she competed twice on the Big Brother reality series – in 2018 on the first season of Celebrity Big Brother US, placing 5th, and in 2021 on Big Brother Australia VIP, placing 12th.

In August 2018, Newman published Unhinged, detailing her tenure at the White House and criticizing Trump and his administration.

Two days before the book was released, she released the first of as many as 200 secret tapes she recorded during her White House tenure.

As of May 23, 2022, she had released four tapes.

The first tape released, which was secretly recorded inside the Situation Room, was described as "one of the worst White House security breaches ever," though the tape is thought not to violate the Espionage Act.

On March 15, 2020, Newman was forced to pay $61,585 to the US Treasury for her violation of the Ethics in Government Act, in what the judge described as "willful violation" after receiving "countless reminders" to submit her final financial disclosure after being fired from her position in the White House.

Newman was born in Youngstown, Ohio, the daughter of Theresa Marie Walker and Jack Thomas Manigault.

Newman's father was murdered when she was seven years old.